Categories
Previous

Social event welcomes artists from across Bradford

Tuesday night was the Bradford Visual Arts Social run by Bradford Producing Hub. This time it was held at Keighley Creative and what an honour it was!

Bradford Visual Arts Social at KEighley Creative

The event was a great success with lots of positive feedback. Attendees came from across the district to meet other artists, social, network and hear more about opportunities for creatives in our local area.

Bradford Visual Arts Social at KEighley Creative

The focus of the event was on local and national support organisations for visual artists and they explained more about what they do and how they can help. The organisations included ourselves, Bradford Producing Hub, Yorkshire and Humber Visual Arts Network, Axis Web, Curator Space and Keighley Photo Hub.

Bradford Visual Arts Social at KEighley Creative

We shared wonderful food together courtesy of Caterpillar Catering alongside taking part in some creative activities run by one of our studio artists, Carole Griffiths. Attendees got a tour of our building, seeing our artist studios and enjoying the comfort of the fabulous Stockroom Cinema.

Bradford Visual Arts Social at KEighley Creative

We can’t wait to host our next social event for local creatives. Watch this space for more info!

Categories
Previous

Keighley families think disco is truly brill!

Last Friday was the I Am Brill disco, a free family event organised by us and held at Victoria Hall in Keighley.

The event welcomed 100s of local families and the aim was to encourage Keighley kids to come together and celebrate their brilliance.  The I Am Brill disco was the culmination of numerous creative workshops that we have held around town over the previous few months, where local children were encouraged to make their own unique creations.

Red carpet entrance at I Am Brill disco
A red carpet welcome at I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

The I Am Brill project has been inspired by the work of local artist, Letty McHugh, and her piece “Let Brilliant Talents Shine Forth”, which is currently installed on the front of the library and recognises the important history of the Keighley’s original Mechanics Institute.

Let Brilliant Talents Shine Forth Letty McHugh Keighley
Letty McHugh’s art installation, “Let Brilliant Talents Shine Forth”.

The disco was thoroughly enjoyed by attendees who described it as “excellent” “energetic” and “inclusive” as the event was designed to welcome everyone, whatever their age, ethnicity or if they are neurodiverse.

Children made “disco sticks” for I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Party-goers were greeted on arrival with snowfall, balloons and a red carpet and then spent the evening dancing, crafting, drawing, fishing and limboing.

Limbo I am brill disco Keighley
Limboing at I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Children were eligible to win prizes for their achievements which included unique I Am Brill T-shirts and posters and sweets donated by ASDA. Performers included drummers, Punjabi Roots, stilt-walkers, Chicks on Sticks, DJs, and local dancers from Unique Cheer and Dance.

Unique Cheer and Dance Keighley Brill disco
Unique Cheer and Dance at I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

Our team used the work of Dr Seuss to inspire the decorations around Victoria Hall and “Seussian” themed snacks were provided by Caterpillar Catering.

Caterpillar Catering Dr Seuss buns
Dr Seuss themed snacks from Caterpillar Catering. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

The event was manned by our team alongside lots of enthusiastic volunteers, who provided their time for free. The event was funded by Bradford Council, the Leap, Levelling Up Fund and Toy Lab.

Event Director, Aimee Grundell, said:

“The I Am Brill disco was everything we hoped it would be: fun, inspiring and celebratory. It created an opportunity for local children and families to feel confident, get creative, and recognise that they are brilliant!”

Boy with balloon at I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive with one attendee saying:

“Thank you for such an amazing disco. My seven year old and I loved it! It was such a great way to spend a miserable Friday night in January. You could see so much hard work went into it! As a single parent to two, and a mature student it was nice to be able to do something that good locally that was free also. Thank you :)”

Girl enjoying I Am Brill Disco. Photo: Bob Smith Photography

For more information on our upcoming events and projects, please sign up to our mailing list and follow us on social media.

Categories
Coming soon

Studio holder leads activity at upcoming event

On Tuesday 16th January, Keighley Creative will be hosting the latest Visual Arts Social, organised by Bradford Producing Hub. This regular event welcomes artists from across Bradford and Keighley and this time is being held in our Cooke Street premises.

Each social includes an activity led by a professional artist and this time sees the turn of our studio holder, Carole Griffiths, with her workshop ‘Rip and Tear – Smudge and Draw’.

Carole is a practicing sculptor and has been an art educator for 25 years. She studied sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art and received her MA through Leeds Metropolitan University.

Her art has been shown at a number of locations in the United Kingdom, including Canterbury, London, Bradford, Halifax, Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, and York. She is a member of the Yorkshire Sculptors Group, which promotes  work through exhibitions addressing contemporary themes. Carole has a Ph.D in the Visual Arts at Coventry University, on Sculptural Reconfigurations of the Kitchen Utensil: A Poetic Chaos of Domesticity. Her work depicts an open dialogue of object displacement and its uses, which feeds autobiographical depictions of her own domestic circumstances and echoes through narratives and introspective descriptions of production. The observed domestic object sculptures emphasise the pleasures of making through a poetic reflection of both the method and the content, allowing the observer to perceive and depict the peculiar and intricate relationship between things, subjects, and words.

For more information or to book a place at the Visual Arts Social, please visit the Bradford Producing Hub website:

https://bdproducinghub.co.uk/visual-arts-social/
Categories
Coming soon Live Ongoing

Get your hands on £1000! Fusion Grants now Open

Over at Keighley Creative we’re helping to support Keighley Association Women and Children’s Centre (KAWACC) with their new grant-giving project called Fusion, funded by The Leap.

What is it about?

Keighley residents and community organisations can access grants of up to £1000 to realise their creative, community-led ideas. These grants will prioritise people and organisations that have been unfunded, or under-funded in the past- and that highlight new creative outlooks in Keighley. To find out more, please email Irum at iram@kawacc.org.uk

Closing Date

4th April 2023

Categories
Ongoing

Building our Future! Keighley Towns Fund

Many of you may remember that back in 2021 we heard of our success in securing £2.6 million to buy and renovate an existing town-centre building so we have a permanent home in Keighley. This has been made possible through Keighley Towns Fund https://www.ourtownkeighley.co.uk/

This funding makes it possible to create an accessible and exciting Hub focussed on how we live, work and play through arts and culture, designed with, by and for our local communities.

If you would like to read more about how our future hub and festival will benefit Keighley, here you go, free to download:

More news will follow at the end of the month… watch this space!

Categories
Uncategorized

K-Town Shopper Video added to YouTube

We’ve just added the K-Town Shopper Video to our Youtube channel! Many thanks to filmmaker Danny Hardaker for this fantastic piece of work, it’s a great memory of a fantastic weekend.